Suspect in US documents leak appears in court

Court room sketch showing Jack Teixeira, in orange, and his father,  Jack Michael Teixeira, on stand.

Prosecutors are arguing that the Air National Guardsman accused of posting a trove of classified documents to social media should remain in jail during the course of his legal case, in part, because he has a history of violent threats and possessed an “arsenal of weapons.”

In comments cited in court filings late Wednesday night, Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, spoke of wanting to “kill a [expletive] ton of people” because it would be “culling the weak minded,” and discussed wanting to make a minivan into an “assassination van.”

At his home in Massachusetts, prosecutors say, Teixeira had access to an “arsenal” of weapons and accessories — including handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon, a gas mask, ammunition, tactical pouches, and a “silencer-style accessory” — all of which he kept in his bedroom.

Those filings came ahead of Teixeira’s court appearance Thursday where a judge was expected to decide whether he should continue to be detained as he faces charges under the Espionage Act.

Awaiting ruling: Magistrate Judge David Hennessy however, said he would not yet issue a ruling on whether Teixeira will stay in jail while he awaits trial, opting to consider arguments and later issue a ruling.

Hennessy did not say whether he would issue a written ruling or would convene another hearing.

Teixeira is accused of posting classified intelligence — including sensitive information on the war in Ukraine — on social media platform Discord in a series of leaks that revealed the scope of US intelligence gathering on both its allies and adversaries.

He has not yet entered a formal plea.

Federal prosecutors previewed arguments that Teixeira should stay behind bars while he awaits trial in a court filing late Wednesday, saying that he posed a flight risk and that the government was still grappling with the amount of stolen classified information.

Teixeira, prosecutors alleged, viewed hundreds of classified documents — which the government said he may still have access to — and conducted hundreds more keyword searches “in what appears to be a deliberate effort to disseminate this country’s secrets.”

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The Pentagon declined to comment Thursday on how the suspected leaker was able to obtain a top secret clearance despite issues in his past, but said the department is “looking at the process by which we clear and vet individuals for security clearances and that work is ongoing.”

“Without getting into specific hypotheticals … we do have a continuous vetting process when it relates to holding a security clearance that we’re looking at a variety of things to include public records, financial records,” spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Thursday at a press briefing.

“But in terms of individual searches, and what those are in the context of what those searches may be and why it’s important to obviously look at each of those cases individually and as it relates to the airman, that’s something that the investigation will have to tell us,” Ryder added.

The official said the Pentagon’s process “continues to be continuous vetting,” which is “the near real-time monitoring of cleared individuals supported by automated record checks.”

Jack Teixeira, the former Massachusetts Air National Guard who is suspected of leaking the trove of US classified documents, is awaiting a decision on whether he will remain in jail until he has a trial. The leak of documents prompted investigations within the Pentagon, among other places where people have access to classified information.

Ryder said Thursday service members who obtain security clearances face “pretty stringent requirements.”

While Ryder declined to comment specifically about the background process for Teixeira, he said that the “vast, vast majority of people” who obtain security clearances “come to work every day and do the right thing.” 

The official said that among the things that are considered before awarding someone a security clearance is any conduct in their past, their age and maturity at the time of that conduct, the seriousness of it, and any “pertinent behavioral changes” as a result of the conduct.

Ryder did not specifically comment on Teixeira’s case, but said that there is a “very prescribed process” for investigators with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency to determine if someone is eligible for a clearance.

According to court filings, Teixeira was suspended in high school because of violent and racist comments, yet he was still able to obtain a top secret security clearance with the Air National Guard. 

Ryder emphasized that there is “no difference” in the process of getting a security clearance for the National Guard versus the active duty military.

Magistrate Judge David Hennessy said he would not yet issue a ruling on whether suspected leaker Jack Teixeira will remain in custody or be released pending trial — opting to consider arguments and later issue a ruling.

Hennessy did not say whether he would issue a written ruling or would convene another hearing. 

The hearing, which lasted nearly an hour and a half, has now concluded.

Teixeira was escorted out of the courtroom and remains in custody.

Magistrate Judge David Hennessy challenged Jack Teixeira’s defense lawyer Brendan Kelley over arguments that the alleged leaker did not expect classified information that he posted online on Discord to be further spread around the internet.

Hennessy also pushed Kelley on the idea that even if Teixeira no longer had copies of classified information, he likely remembers details from the classified records he read and copied down.

“I’m not so sure that the government’s concern is entirely imaginative. Information about the Russia-Ukraine war is extremely relevant, and perhaps valuable,” Hennessy said. “It sounds like a legitimate concern.”

Kelley said that while he agrees that could be a risk “in the abstract…the question here is how serious is the risk that this is going to happen.”

Prosecutors doubled down on their allegations against alleged leaker Jack Teixeira during the hearing Thursday, saying that defense lawyers were trying to minimize his alleged conduct.

Teixeira is accused of posting a trove of classified documents to social media. Prosecutors are arguing that he should remain in jail during the course of his legal case.

“What is past may not only be prologue, but in this case, it is a very good indication that the defendant will either try to flee this jurisdiction or continue in the steps that he has already taken to obstruct this investigation,” Pellegrini said.

She also hit back at defense lawyers’ arguments that Teixeira has matured since a high school suspension for talking about guns and making racist threats, citing a letter Teixeira wrote to a local police officer.

“He is not the person he described in the letter, who upholds and applies the core values of the Air Force — Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do,” she said.

Pellegrini reiterated the idea that Teixeira “constantly and consistently put himself before all else,” and that Teixeira “uses what he can to gain what he wants.”

In addition, Pellegrini argued that any promise from Teixeira to follow court rules shouldn’t be trusted. She pointed to agreements that Teixeira had to sign to join the military pledging to properly handle classified documents, saying that he broke that promise “time and time again.”

“He liked being the gatekeeper, the giver of information,” she said, and he “became a one-stop shop for people who wanted access to that which they shouldn’t.”    

Jack Teixeira, father of Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, arrives at federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Thursday.

Jack Teixeira’s father, also named Jack Teixeira, told Magistrate Judge David Hennessy that he would not hesitate to report his son to the court if he were to break his conditions of release.

Defense lawyers have asked Hennessy to release the younger Teixeira into his father’s custody. 

“It was reported that after the proceedings you called out to your son, understandably, that you love him,” the judge said to the elder Teixeira in Thursday’s hearing.

“Yes,” he responded, audibly emotional. Teixeira confirmed, however, that he would not hesitate to report his son if he broke any rules the court imposed.

The elder Teixeira, who formerly worked as a correctional officer, said that his house has Ring doorbells at every exit at his home, and would receive a text message every time someone left his house, as well as an additional camera inside the house.

He also committed to disconnecting the television and internet inside the house if necessary and said that all firearms have been removed from his house.

A detention hearing for suspected document leaker Jack Teixeira is underway now in Massachusetts. A judge will decide whether he should continue to be detained as he faces charges under the Espionage Act.

He is accused of posting a trove of US classified documents to social media.

The hearing was originally scheduled for last week but was postponed at the last minute.

What both sides are saying: Federal prosecutors previewed arguments that Teixeira should stay behind bars while he awaits trial in a court filing late Wednesday, saying that he posed a flight risk and that the government was still grappling with the amount of stolen classified information.

Meanwhile, the suspect’s lawyers argued that he no longer has access to classified documents and accused prosecutors of exaggerating Teixeira’s danger to national security, according to a Thursday morning court filing.

Defense lawyers suggested that Teixeira be released into the custody of his father, a military veteran and former correctional officer.

Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman accused of posting a trove of classified documents to social media, has entered a Massachusetts courtroom for his detention hearing.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET in front of Magistrate Judge David Hennessy.

Teixeira entered the room in handcuffs, an orange jumpsuit from the Plymouth County Correction Facility, and rosary beads. 

Several individuals sat in an area of the courtroom reserved for Teixeira’s friends and family. 

As Teixeira entered, one woman in the family section began audibly sobbing.

Prosecutors argued in court filings that Teixeira poses a flight risk and continues to pose a threat to national security should he be released.

Jack Teixeira is seen in a photo taken from Instagram.

In a filing Thursday morning arguing for Jack Teixeira’s release, lawyers for the 21-year-old argued that he no longer has access to classified documents and accused prosecutors of exaggerating Teixeira’s danger to national security.

The filing came just hours before Teixeira is scheduled to appear in a Massachusetts federal court for a detention hearing.

Defense lawyers suggest that Teixeira be released into the custody of his father, a military veteran and former correctional officer. Teixeira could also be subject to location monitoring, have no access to the internet, and not be allowed to talk to any witnesses in the case. 

On Wednesday evening, prosecutors argued said that the information Teixeira allegedly took “far exceeds” what has been reported, and that Teixeira is an “attractive candidate” for a foreign government to recruit in an effort to procure classified information. 

Tiexiera’s lawyers, however, say the government is being “hyperbolic.”

There is no evidence that Teixeira, his lawyers say, ever intended for the information he posted to the private Discord chat to be shared more widely on social media.

In fact, defense lawyers argue that instead of fleeing when Tiexiera’s was publicly identified, “he sat on his mother’s porch reading a Bible in his uniform-compliant undershirt, awaiting the arrival of law enforcement.”

Additionally, defense lawyers said that Teixeira no longer has access to top-secret information, and that “nothing in the government’s exhaustive searches of his parents’ houses, his vehicle, nor its interviews to date, support its speculation that an undiscovered trove of documents exists.”

Teixeira’s defense lawyers slammed the government for painting their client, who they say has no criminal history, as violent because he was suspended in high school for talking about guns and making racist threats and made violent comments online. 

As for the messages, defense lawyers said that “the government presents messages it contends were posted by Mr. Teixeira without any indication that he ever committed even a single act of violence.”

An undated picture shows Jack Teixeira posing for a selfie.

Federal prosecutors in court filings Wednesday shed light on new allegations about the conduct of the suspect in the Pentagon leaks case once details about the documents became public, including allegedly destroying his electronics and making new online accounts. 

Those steps, prosecutors say included telling others on social media to “delete all messages” and that “[i]f anyone comes looking, don’t tell them shit.”

In addition, prosecutors say that when law enforcement searched Teixeira’s house following his arrest, authorities found “a tablet, a laptop, and an Xbox gaming console, all of which had been smashed” in a dumpster at the house. Prosecutors argued that this showed Teixeira’s willingness to destroy evidence.

Prosecutors also raised fears in the filing that Teixeira may try to exchange national defense information with a foreign country in exchange for help leaving the United States, where he faces charges under the Espionage act, if he were released.

“Any promise by the Defendant to stay home or to refrain from compounding the harm that he has already caused is worth no more than his broken promises to protect classified national defense information,” prosecutors wrote. “And if the Defendant were released, it would be all too easy for him to further disseminate classified information and would create the unacceptable risk that he would flee the United States and take refuge with a foreign adversary to avoid the reach of U.S. law.”

Prosecutors also flagged concerns about Teixeira’s alleged history of violent threats, saying that he “regularly made comments about violence and murder.”

In comments cited in court filings, Teixeira spoke of wanting to “kill a [expletive] ton of people” because it would be “culling the weak minded,” and discussed wanting to make a minivan into an “assassination van.”

At his home in Massachusetts, prosecutors say, Teixeira had access to an “arsenal” of weapons and accessories – including handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon, a gas mask, ammunition, tactical pouches, and a “silencer-style accessory” – all of which he kept in his bedroom.

The Air Force suspended two leaders of suspected classified document leaker Jack Teixeira’s unit, it said in a statement Wednesday, one week after the unit stopped performing its intelligence mission amid an investigation into the leaks.

The commander of the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron, part of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in which the 21-year-old Teixeira served, was suspended from his leadership position, as was the detachment commander overseeing administrative support, the Air Force said. The two officers have also lost their access to classified systems and information.

Teixeira faces charges under the Espionage Act after allegedly posting classified intelligence – including sensitive information on the war in Ukraine – to the social media platform Discord in a series of leaks that revealed the scope of US intelligence gathering on both its allies and adversaries. He is expected to appear in court Thursday for a detention hearing.

The suspensions are temporary pending the completion of the Air Force’s Inspector General investigation into the leaked documents, and commanders are taking appropriate actions as new information becomes available as part of the investigation, said Ann Stefanek, a spokesperson for the Air Force.

Investigators from the inspector general’s office arrived at the base on Tuesday, Stefanek said.

Federal prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday to continue the detention of the Air National Guardsman accused of posting a trove of classified documents to social media, saying that he posed a flight risk and that the government was still grappling with the amount of stolen classified information.

In a court filing Wednesday evening, prosecutors said that the information Jack Teixeira allegedly took “far exceeds” what has been reported, and that releasing him from jail could pose a grave threat to national security.

Teixeira, prosecutors alleged, viewed hundreds of classified documents and conducted hundreds more keyword searches “in what appears to be a deliberate effort to disseminate this country’s secrets.”

They continued: “Put simply, there is nothing a court can do to ensure the Defendant’s compliance with his conditions of release other than take the Defendant at his word. And the Defendant’s history of honoring similar types of agreements is abysmal.”

The filing is the most detailed look yet into what government prosecutors have uncovered about the 21-year-old’s alleged efforts to steal and disseminate classified information. Teixeira is slated to stand before a magistrate judge in Massachusetts on Thursday, who will decide whether he will have to stay behind bars while he awaits trial.

He has not yet entered a formal plea.

The government also says that in addition to viewing hundreds of classified documents and conducting “hundreds more” searches, Teixeira solicited requests from online friends for information. 

In one affidavit, an FBI agent says that audit data of the classified networks found Teixeira “accessed hundreds of classified reports and/or documents on his classified network.” Teixeira is found to have searched “across an Intelligence Community-wide system” for subjects related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He is also found to have searched for terms about Ruby Ridge, Las Vegas shooting, the Mandalay Bay shooting, Buffalo Tops shooting and Uvalde.

In seeking to continue detaining him, the government argues he is an “attractive candidate” for a foreign government to recruit in an effort to procure classified information. 

Jack Teixeira, second from right, appears in court on April 19.

The Air National Guardsman accused of posting a trove of classified documents to social media is expected back in court Thursday for a hearing on whether he will be kept in jail during the course of his legal case.

The detention hearing, which was originally scheduled for last week but was postponed at the last minute, is slated to take place in Massachusetts.

Here are key things to know about the hearing:

The affidavit in support of a criminal complaint and arrest warrant against Jack Teixeira.

Intelligence leaks suspect Jack Teixeira was charged with unauthorized detention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials.

Here are some of the details included in the affidavit and criminal complaint:

The suspect took documents home to photograph: Teixeira was concerned about getting caught transcribing documents at work, so he started taking them home, a member of his online chat group told the FBI, according to court documents.

The leaks included photos of crumpled documents lying on top of magazines and surrounded by other random objects, such as zip-close bags and Gorilla Glue, CNN has previously reported.

The documents looked as if they had been hastily folded up and shoved into a pocket before being removed from a secure location, a source familiar with these kinds of documents told CNN.

Teixeira allegedly started posting photos of documents in December: The guardsman allegedly began posting classified documents online around December 2022, according to an affidavit.

The 21-year-old has held a Top Secret clearance through his IT role with the Air National Guard since 2021, according to the court document. At least one of the documents shared online was accessible to him by virtue of his employment as a guard member, the affidavit says.

He also “maintained sensitive compartmented access (SCI) to other highly classified programs,” the affidavit says.

He used his real home address on social media platform: The social media platform where Teixeira was allegedly posting classified documents, which is not named in the affidavit but which CNN has previously identified as Discord, gave the FBI information on April 12 about the account that had allegedly been posting the documents.

Teixeira used his real name and home address in North Dighton, Massachusetts, for the billing information associated with his Discord account, according to the affidavit.

Teixeira searched for the word “leak”: Investigators alleged that a US government agency with the ability to monitor “certain searches conducted on its classified networks” found that Teixeira searched for the word “leak” on his government-issued computer.

One week before his arrest, the suspect “used his government computer to search classified intelligence reporting for the word ‘leak,’” according to an affidavit. That search led investigators to believe that Teixeira was looking for the intelligence community’s assessment of who had leaked the classified documents online.

The Justice Department launched an investigation earlier this month into a massive US classified documents leak. The Defense Department is also reviewing the matter, according to the Pentagon.

The 21-year-old suspect, Jack Teixeira, was charged in Boston with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information, as well as unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials.

Singh added that US officials spoke with allies and partners over the weekend regarding the leak and informed “relevant congressional committees.”

The Joint Staff, which comprises the Defense Department’s most senior uniformed leadership that advises the president, is examining its distribution lists to look at who gets these reports, a department official said. Many of the documents had markings indicating that they had been produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm, known as J2, and appear to be briefing documents.

The Pentagon team working to determine the scale and scope of the leak includes the Defense Department’s legislative affairs, public affairs, policy, general counsel, intelligence and security, and joint staff offices, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Chris Meagher said.

Ukrainian servicemen fire at Russian positions in the Donbas region of Ukraine in March.

The leaked documents that officials said were posted online contain a wide range of highly classified information. Some of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.

On Russia and Wagner Group: Others reveal the degree to which the US has penetrated the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, largely through intercepted communications and human sources, which could now be cut off or put in danger.

On Ukraine’s military and Zelensky: Still, others divulge key weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at a critical point in the war, as Ukrainian forces gear up to launch a counteroffensive against the Russians — and just as the US and Ukraine have begun to develop a more mutually trusting relationship over intelligence-sharing.

One document reveals that the US has been spying on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That is unsurprising, said a source close to Zelensky, but Ukrainian officials are deeply frustrated about the leak.

The US intelligence report, which is sourced to signals intelligence, says that Zelensky in late February “suggested striking Russian deployment locations in Russia’s Rostov Oblast” using unmanned aerial vehicles since Ukraine does not have long-range weapons capable of reaching that far.

Signals intelligence includes intercepted communications and is broadly defined by the National Security Agency as “intelligence derived from electronic signals and systems used by foreign targets, such as communications systems, radars, and weapons systems.”

On South Korean officials: Yet another document describes, in remarkable detail, a conversation between two senior South Korean national security officials about concerns by the country’s National Security Council over a US request for ammunition.

The officials worried that supplying the ammunition, which the US would then send to Ukraine, would violate South Korea’s policy of not supplying lethal aid to countries at war. According to the document, one of the officials then suggested a way of getting around the policy without actually changing it: selling the ammunition to Poland.

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